A Display Of Affection
by Captain Buggles
Summary: When you've been spending time alone together in the ruins of a castle, after years of being apart, it isn't so hard to show each other a bit of affection. Isshushipping.


**A Display Of Affection**

"_Another day, another visit with N._" Touya thought, with a mixture of exasperation and pleasant acceptance. They were in the ruins of N's castle, an almost perfect place for silence and alone time. Touya sat idly with a book while N sat behind him, doing what he did every visit. He was petting and playing with Touya's hair, humming softly to himself with Touya's hat placed gently beside him. Something like this would definitely be woefully embarrassing to Touya under any other circumstances. (Cheren or Bianca could never even dream of doing something like this to him.) But in the somber, placid silence of the ruins, Touya found his outlook on life went through a few changes.

It was much easier to simply relax and focus in here, away from the stresses of life as an Elite Four Champion and major opponent of Team Plasma. Touya had never actually been one to crave attention and adoration from people, being perfectly satisfied with the company of only a few. Only months after his triumph over the E4, he was already completely burnt out from all the needless publicity and the myriads of fans. They were constantly watching him, following him, and judging him, while asking for the most trivial and inane favors, autographs, battles, and trades. When those factors were all taken into consideration, he'd hardly felt bad about going incognito, and the newspaper headlines about the region's Champion "abandoning" it only made him more sure of his decision.

Despite the deterioration and the almost eerie silence, Touya saw the ruins as nothing less than a great blessing. He hadn't even found the ruins on purpose, he simply arrived one night when traveling through Victory Road out of a mixture of boredom and nostalgia. He had been lead to them by a Zoroark, with fur that seemed even darker than the sky on that fateful night. Already a quiet boy, he was entirely speechless when he walked in and saw N, sitting down and reading a book by the light of his sleeping Rapidash. It was a quiet but joyful reunion, and since then, Touya had found it almost impossible to keep away. He found it somewhat difficult and awkward to do things like catch up with his old friends, who had progressed further than he ever could've imagined, and his visits with his mom were brief, secretive affairs, but it was different to be with N. N didn't judge the same as most people. He didn't look at Touya with the same eyes as everyone else. He and Touya could just talk like old friends, as if nothing was wrong. So, nearly every week, sometimes more, Touya came to the ruins to speak to N.

They didn't have incredibly profound and philosophical conversation, or anything of that sort. Most of the time, Touya would just sit down, N would offer him a book, Touya would give N some groceries and prepare some food he brought, (After coming to the horrific realization that N usually lived on canned food and berries) and N would just start to talk. It could be about almost anything, but N would talk, and Touya would listen and add his input from time to time. Once N was done, he would often do something like what he was doing to Touya on this particular visit. He'd sit behind him and stroke his hair, either humming, being silent, or starting yet another conversation.

In the couple of years since deciding to evade the spotlight and ignore most of the happenings in Unova, Touya's hair had definitely grown. His mom always commented on it or outright said he should consider a haircut, and he always half-heartedly agreed, but it never truly happened. So Black just let his hair hang down past his shoulders and almost over his eyes, hastily combing it whenever it became too tangled. N often joked about it, claiming that he wasn't exactly recommending that Touya start living like a bum, but Touya didn't mind much. Still, Touya was curious today, so he asked N a rather innocuous question.

"Why do you like petting my hair so much?"

"Hmm?" N answered, snapping out of a light daydream.

"Why do you like petting my hair so much?" Touya asked again, looking up from his book and turning around.

"It's a display of affection. Isn't petting and grooming enjoyable?" N responded innocently. He wasn't lying, Touya could tell that much.

"Well, for a Pokémon, yes." Touya replied.

"…But don't humans have those barbers and hair salon places?" N asked, seeming a little confused.

"…They just cut and style your hair, they don't pet you." Touya answered, smirking.

"That seems pretty boring. I imagine people would enjoy being petted, if society was more accepting of that sort of thing…It's very relaxing, you know." N said with a sigh.

"Well, people aren't Pokémon." Touya explained simply.

"So why have you been letting me pet you all this time if you don't really like it?" N asked, more confused than ever.

"But I do like it." Touya replied, smiling gently.

"That whole conversation heavily implied that you want me to stop…" N argued, his tone becoming increasingly troubled.

"Well, with any other person, I would want them to stop, but you're…different, I guess." Touya said, smiling.

"Tell me about it." N moaned, with an exasperated and somewhat disgusted sigh as he thought of humanity as a whole and all of their confusing customs and culture. His head hurt just thinking about some of it.

"No, it's a good thing…I feel like we really get each other, if that makes any sense." Touya tried to explain, becoming a little flustered as he said it.

"Yes, I do feel we've really connected over time…It's almost embarrassing now, thinking back to the days of being enemies…"

"And now we're just a couple of hobos." Touya said, giggling.

"I don't know about you, but someone of my intellectual standing is most certainly not a hobo. I prefer to think of myself as an enlightened nomad, if you would." N said, in an intentionally snobbish and uppity manner.

"So, you're a nerdy hobo?" Touya said, smiling.

"If you want to go crushing my dreams like that, then yes." N admitted, with exaggerated disappointment.

"I like nerds, you know." Touya said, getting closer to N.

"And I forgive you for crushing my dreams." N said, smiling. "You haven't really, since you're part of my dreams." N finished awkwardly, with a toothy grin.

Touya's heart began to speed up slightly, and he knew his face was a bit flushed. He broke out in a goofy grin, because even though what N had just said was a bit touching, he couldn't believe how hilariously odd and cheesy the execution was.

"How was that, Touya? I've decided on a more appropriate way to display affection towards you. It's called flirting, isn't it?" N said, seeming rather proud of himself. "It's rather odd though…I mean, no one can truthfully dream about someone else on a regular basis. They can desire them, yes, but a literal dream obviously operates differently…" N said, frowning slightly.

"It needs a lot of work, to be honest…But I'll accept it, since you're on the right track." Touya said, giggling.

"Well, it's still in the experimental phase, I suppose. Greatness doesn't come overnight. But I would like to run one more experiment. You're still the test subject, if you don't mind." N told Touya, before he steadily moved his body, especially his face, closer to him. With his face only a few inches away from Touya's, he waited for the reply.

"Sure, go right ahead." Touya said with a smirk, already pretty sure of what to expect.

And sure enough, N kissed Touya, right on the lips. It was a little too hard, too fast, a bit sloppy, and a bit too short, but just like N's flirting, Touya found he'd have no problem learning to accept it.


End file.
